Red Sox Dump Oakland, 6-3, Lead in Playoff Series, 2-0

Carl Yastrzemskiand Rico Petrocelli, the veterans among Boston's youth brigade, slugged home runs to rally the Red Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Oakland A's Sunday in the second game of the AL playoffs.

The triumph was Boston's second straight in this best-of-five playoff and left the Red Sox one victory away from a berth in the 1975 World Series. The playoffs continue Tuesday night with Game 3 in Oakland.

Yastrzemski and Petrocelli, both longtime Fenway Park heroes and the only players left from the Red Sox's 1967 American League pennant-winners, had the capacity crowd of 35,578 madly cheering their heroics.

Besides his home run, Yaz threw out a runner from left field and scored the deciding run when he doubled in the sixth inning against the A's ace reliever, Rollie Fingers, and then raced home on Carlton Fisk's line-drive single to center.

Petrocelli then tagged Fingers for a huge home run that sailed into the light tower beyond the left-field wall in the seventh inning.

Fingers had arrived on the scene in the fifth inning--a bit early for him. Manager Alvin Dark usually likes to wait until the seventh or so before summoning the man with the handlebar moustache. But the way the Red Sox were spraying base hits around this classic, old ballyard, Dark felt obliged to go with his best relief arm early.

At the time, the move paid off. Fingers bailed out of a Red Sox threat, courtesty of Reggie Jackson's strong left arm. Jackson, who also had a two-run homer for the A's gunned down Cecil Cooper at the plate, completing one of a record four Oakland double plays.

But the Red Sox, who had been beaten by Fingers three times during the regular season, retaliated in the sixth. With one out, Yaz doubled halfway up the wall in left field. Fingers worked the count to 3-1 on Fisk before the sturdy Red Sox cleanup man drilled his single to center, sending Yastrzemski home with the tie-breaking run.

Then in the seventh, Petrocelli, leading off, unloaded his home run, giving the Red Sox a two-run cushion. Boston added a run in the eighth on Fred Lynn's RBI single. Reliever Dick Drago, the third Boston pitcher, protected that edge the rest of the way.

Houdini

Drago had come on in the seventh inning with a man on first and none out. He struck out pinch-hitter Billy Williams and then escaped the jam when Tommy Harper, running on a hit-and-run play, was doubled off first base as Bill North lined to Lynn in center field.

In the eighth, Bando, who tatooed the short left-field wall all day, doubled for his fourth hit. But Drago squirmed out of the jam, striking out Jackson and getting Gene Tenace on a line drive to Yastrzemski.